Rodrigo Duterte apologises to Germany over beheading

Abu Sayyaf group decapitated hostage Jurgen Kantner and videotaped the killing after ransom demands went unmet.

28 Feb 2017 11:47 GMT

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte apologised on Tuesday for failing to save an elderly German hostage who was beheaded by the armed Abu Sayyaf group but insisted ransoms should not be paid.

Abu Sayyaf - a kidnap-for-ransom network in the southern Philippines that has declared allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group - killed Jurgen Gustav Kantner, 70, on Sunday after demands for $600,000 were not met.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the killing as an "abominable act".

Addressing the German government and Kantner's family, Duterte said he was "very sorry" about his death, adding the military had stepped up an offensive against Abu Sayyaf in an effort to save him.

"But it's a matter of policy that we do not surrender to the demands of paying ransom. It will just increase the numbers," he said, referring to the size of the group. "If you give in and pay, there will be more victims and no end in sight."

Abu Sayyaf has been kidnapping foreigners and locals for decades and holding them for ransom on its remote island strongholds in the southern Philippines.

Kantner's vessel, the Rockall, was found drifting last November off the southern Philippines with the body of his female companion, Sabine Merz, who had been shot.

Military officials on Tuesday said they were still searching for his body and vowed to "relentlessly pursue" the assailants and rescue more than 20 other hostages.